New constitutional challenge to Section 377A filed

Last Friday, 30 November 2012, a new constitutional challenge was filed in the High Court against the constitutionality of Section 377A of the Penal Code. The plaintiffs, Gary Lim and Kenneth Chee, partners for 15 years, say the law entrenches “stigma and discrimination against lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people in society.” The Singapore constitution’s Article 12 promises equal protection under the law. Section 377A of the Penal Code says: Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years. It was first enacted into our statutes books in 1938, but closely follows the model of the Labouchiere Amendment passed by the UK parliament in 188...